Project Descriptions
Oswaldo G. | Music Playlist
ECM’s Life Through Music
I really connect with ECM in some way, the way I do is through music because I love music and I love how you can express yourself through music. ECM grew up with music and played the piano which made an impact on his life. I decided to connect chapters of the book and connect them to music. The music expresses what ECM went through or how he felt. Music can impress many emotions so that’s another reason why I did this project because ECM went through many feelings trying to live his life confused and not sure of himself.
America H. | Painting
Face of a Dealt Hand
My project connects to the novel with many references. I used playing cards, the numbers and letter are references to people (King card: father; Queen Cards: mom, wife, casino girl) and addresses (16th St, 27 Ave). The man looming over ECM is the rich friend, representing how he attempts to block ECM from returning to the U.S. The faces represent the crowd ECM was in during the lynching. ECM is represented by “A” cards because in blackjack “A” can either mean 1 or 11, that could represent ECM choosing between white or black depending on his “dealt hand”/situation. During the lynching, he is “morphing” between black and white which is why he looks distorted. Underneath the playing cards is a headshot of James Weldon Johnson who isn’t ECM but is the author, could be considered an easter egg.
Daisy F. A. | Research Paper
The Effects Race Caused on ECM’s Mental Health
The “research paper” I wrote talks about how from a young age, the racism ECM witnessed affected his mental health and how he decided to embrace or reject his identity later in life. I focused on more traumatic moments such as being outed as a person of color, witnessing the lynching, and hearing how white people talked about POC. The paper concludes with my interpretation on his mental health and identity. I decided to focus on more negative moments in his life since ECM’s life was not easy. He spent it mostly alone until he married his wife.
Vianey T., Ximena C., Brisa A., Gustavo M. | Podcast
Mental Harmony Podcast
We chose to present our project through a podcast because we felt like it was the best way to interpret the importance of maintaining a healthy mental health. The title of our podcast was, “Mental Harmony”. In our podcast, we were able to connect ECMs struggles and accomplishments to our own personal life experiences. We discussed what mental health meant to us and how we thought it was portrayed upon ECMs decision making. The questions we focused on throughout the podcast were; is ECM someone to admire? What motivates ECM’s decision making? Is ECM mentally healthy? And in what ways does the experience of ECM connect with our own? Overall, podcasts can be resourceful, highly engaging, and even motivational. Our goal was to answer each question through separate perspectives so the audience could not only have a better understanding but also be able to get their brains thinking on what they agree or disagree with and why.
Mariana B. P. | Painting
A Change of Eyes
The painting A Change of Eyes is a visual representation of the lynching that occurred in the book The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. This project answers the question of ECM’s mental health and if he is comfortable with his identity. The answer is represented through a canvas painting with acrylic colors that put an emphasis on the event that changed ECM’s outlook on what he identifies as. Art is often depicted as an expression of emotion and feeling, I thought that it would be the best attempt to convey ECM’s emotions and how the lynching might have looked from his point of view. Using the text to put as much detail as possible to have an accurate picture and seeing ECM’s face emotion.
Mirna E. | Customized Jacket
Skins
I decided on making a jacket because I wanted the jacket to represent putting on his skin and seeing the world through his point of view, carrying everything lived through. Leading us into the back, the man in the middle is ECM. Like throughout the book, he had the mindset and somewhat the privileges of a white man due to his passing as white. The piano behind him was the only thing he got from his father. I placed it behind his head because he loved it so much. Until the traumatic events that he witnessed, the lynchng of a man of color, caused him to cry, that passion for music was playing out of him. The lyrics are from a song I found in the book called “The Sorrow Song.” The dollar bills in the US money sign and the Euro money sign show the money he earned with his millionaire. At the cigar factory where he worked, he met people and even learned Spanish. The wedding rings for him meet the women he expected to spend his life with, including the marriage that resulted in children.
Ramon R. | Hand Drawn Book Cover on Cardstock
Authority Over The Heart
While making this project, I wasn’t able to take my mind off anything other than a book cover. I wanted to visually represent the struggle ECM went through and the battle he fought with himself and his heart. This project shows how ECM wasn’t able to follow his dreams because of the discrimination and violence white people had against African Americans, he lived in constant fear of being able to express the culture of African Americans, and their love of music and ragtime. He was especially distressed when he witnessed the lynching of a black man. It strayed him from making a change in history through his music, by the hands and actions of the white man he was pulled away from following his dreams and heart. This deep sense of sadness and regret followed him his whole life, all for not taking the risks he wanted to.
Melissa C. M. I. | Glass Painting – Frame
The Story of a Unknown Man
At the beginning of this project I used this question to guide my project brainstorming and final project creation. The question that I chose to pursue is: Is ECM someone to admire? To answer this question, I decided to create this glass painting to represent ECM life events and how it changed him to a better person. Here are the different parts of my project of how to reflect on the events he has done like the adventures, the places he has visited and how some parts in his life have made him the person he is now not just as who he is but how to reflect from his admiration of his own identity. This project helped me realize that no matter who you are it doesn’t matter how you represent yourself as a person but the only thing that matters is what you can achieve in life without anyone telling you what to do or choose who you are.
Yarelis G. L. F. | Mini Canvas Painting – Picture Frame
ECM’s Journey
My essential question was: What is ECM searching for? To make my project possible I first did paintings on a mini canvas where I clipped them into a picture frame. I made sure they were all in order as they happened in the novel and at the back of the picture frame also added a quote that I personally considered one of the most meaningful one. I did this to show ECM’s journey throughout the book and picked the scenes that in my opinion illustrate the most importants scenes of the Novel and each of these scenes demonstrate that ECM is searching for something. Which at the end of the novel he does find out which is his identity who he thinks he is and wants to be. Which makes me think how a person can struggle so much to figure out who they really are.